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Quandt: 'It's okay to disagree. We can still work together'

By Diana Hadley, Assistant Director

Banners that advertise the latest achievements in sports and music are visible despite the dim light at North Central High School at 6:00 a.m. It is still an hour before 3300 students descend upon the campus at one of one of the largest high schools in Indiana. However, the school's radio station, WJEL, is already on the air; and its deejay today, like every Friday, is C.E. Quandt, principal.

“3, 2, 1. We're back,” Quandt says as he begins a segment called “The Faculty Lounge.” Three other faculty members join Quandt as regulars on a show that reviews the week's activities at North Central in addition to a variety of current events and issues in the news. The banter that evolves during the hour includes good-natured teasing of each other, celebrities in the news, and the school's athletic rivals.

When Tom Gayda, publications adviser and one of the show's regulars, shares the itinerary about a student field trip to CNN, Quandt asks if the anchor the group plans to meet will be skinny with big feet-you know-like an anchor. The principal/comic is a one-man band as he operates the radio station's control board and leads the discussion. He likes to add sound effects when he anticipates funny lines. Rim shots help early morning listeners identify the humor.

Administration licenses don't require academic hours in broadcast, but several years ago Quandt realized that embracing the broadcast medium would give him another way to communicate with students, parents, and the community.

“[The radio show] gives people a chance to hear a different side of us, so they know there is a work face and non-work face. It's important to have humor. We try to keep humor in school,” Quandt says.

Although the radio gig is a relatively new addition to Quandt's 36-year educational resume, his connection to high school media goes back to when he was a student at Shortridge High School and a reporter for the Daily Echo. The paper's name reflected its reputation as one of the only daily high school newspapers in the country. Quandt says, “Everyone at Shortridge, for decades, took the Echo for granted. We didn't realize it was unique.”

His experience as a reporter for the Echo may also be one of the reasons Quandt is an advocate for scholastic journalism today. Tom Gayda, adviser of the North Central Northern Lights, and Nick Dugan, one of the student newspaper's co-editors and IHSPA student officer, both wrote letters nominating Quandt for the Indiana High School Press Association's Louis Inglehart Award, presented by the state organization each year to individuals whose support of scholastic journalism is exemplary.

Both praised the variety of support he offers from the freedom and access he grants staff members to the encouragment to attend conventions and improve facilities.

Quandt knows that some administrators don't share his enthusiasm for scholastic journalism, but he believes they are important and truly “student publications, not the school's, not the community's.”

That doesn't mean Quandt has escaped critical calls after the distribution of some issues of the student newspaper. He says any story dealing with sex will generate negative response, but all kinds of circumstances produce potentially controversial topics. When a North Central student was on trail for first-degree murder, the student publications staff covered the trial. Some people didn't think the coverage was appropriate, but Quandt supported the effort with the feeling that it was an important story to cover because it was about one of their peers.

He tells those who criticize the coverage that he appreciates their point of view. Then he explains that this a subject about which kids want and need information; so it's important that they talk about it. He believes he can validate a caller's concern and eplain the schools position without a huge controversy. “It's okay to disagree. We can still work together. You have to accept dissenting opinions.”

Despite the press freedom he promotes, Quandt says he appreciates a warning from Gayda when student journalists are working on potentially controversial issues. However, he doesn't ask to read or want to read anything prior to publication. It's all part of a management style of hiring qualified people and then trusting them do their job. Pleased with the success of this approach he says, “I've been lucky. I've had good people.”

Gayda appreciates the way Quandt helps students find the best way to approach situations.

When students wanted to cut classes to protest the Iraq war, Quandt explained that cutting classes wasn't acceptable because it “disrupted the school day,” a phrase that cites the famous Tinker vs. DesMoines decision. He then helped suggest appropriate ways for them to protest. When some students did protest, he allowed student journalists to go to the site to conduct interviews and take photos.

Quandt says publications programs help him understand his students. “Columns are the most meaningful to me. They show me the thought processes of the kids.”
Quandt recognizes that sometimes students make mistakes, but he is quick to add that professionals make mistakes too. He admits that a few stories have made him wince a little bit, but those are the moments when he tries to step back and get perspective. He believes that good or bad, the feedback student journalists receive from their readers is all part of the learning process..

In regard to an effort by IHSPA to identify journalism programs with the state's Core 40 status, Quandt says that the real question is whether college admissions count them. However, he believes journalism programs “enrich the school's experience. It needs to be chronicled.” He is also convinced that journalism programs help students become more effective writers in addition to the hands-on experience of meeting criteria for ethics and fair play.

And to the new administrator who is worried about the fallout from student publications, Quandt suggests sitting down with the adviser at the beginning of the year to talk about the goals and expectations of the program and then leaving the adviser alone.

He pauses and becomes the deejay again for just an instant and adds, “ Like that old Beatles song, “Let it Be.”